Diprosopus
by QueenSoledad
Summary: A reboot, if you will, of the original. Integra must track down a killer preying upon the students of her all-female boarding school shortly after returning there to start the new term. What seems at first to be the work of an ordinary vampire, however, proves to be something far more sinister. A/I.
1. The Rite

As the Demeter crested yet another colossal wave, a gust of wind swept a man off of the deck and into the clawing arms of the ocean below.

"Come on!" A tanned man with greying hair screamed, picking up the upper side of the large black box as they dragged it out from beneath the deck. Now that the object was exposed to the outside, the wind seemed to howl with twice the force of before, as if God himself was trying to destroy them all.

But this was no work of God.

The man on the other side of the box was half the elder's age and shaking with fright, his footing uncertain as he followed the man's lead. His already sweat covered hands slipped on the smooth, wet surface of the wood, nearly dropping it.

"By God, you idiot! Do you want to wake it up?" the older man shouted, too panicked to consider what effect screaming on the top of his lungs might have.

The ship was nearly overturned once again, causing several dead bodies to slide off and almost claiming the last two survivors as well, but they managed not to get thrown off.

The older man propped the black box up against the side of the boat and went to the other end to help the boy push it off. As they did so, it became incredibly heavy, and try as they might they could not make it budge.

The boy screamed suddenly, tripping over his own feet and landing on his backside.

"What on earth are you—" The man stopped midsentence as he turned and look over his shoulder, mouth agape.

Trailing toward them from the bodies lying scattered all over the deck was a river of blood, closing in on the men and the box.

"Get up!" he screeched, his throat closing up as terror set in. He pushed for everything he was worth, and as the boy shoved beside him the object began to edge forward, gravity starting to cause the upper have to tip forward toward the ocean.

The blood was faster than they, however, and soon it was crawling up the side of the ship's bow and seeping into the hair-thin crack beneath the lid.

Through the black wood grain on the coffin's lid, more blood leaked through, shifting and forming words.

The boy opened his mouth to scream as they were both shrouded entirely in shadow a thousand red eyes opened around them, but it came out only as a choked gargle as blood filled his lungs and came gushing out of his mouth.

* * *

><p>As the seventeen year-old rolled her luggage behind her, the only sound to be heard outside the large building was the scraping of her suitcase's wheels against the dirt. Integra looked up at the four-story building through a thin veil of parted, platinum bangs, undaunted by the size and austerity of the school. She had lived a mansion close to it in size all of her life and had been attending this school since the age of ten.<p>

Cartwright's wasn't a particularly old school, despite the stately and aged look of it. It was both timeless and outdated by design, a necessity to attract the parents of the upper class.

Located out in the country, away from cities and the distractions they posed, Cartwright's School for Young Ladies was surrounded entirely by open fields, and in the dimming light of the late afternoon it cast a long, dark shadow over the landscape, like a lone mountain. From what she knew of mountains not located in a chain, Cartwright's could only be one thing: a volcano, looming in distance and threatening to unleash the destructive force it held within itself any moment.

Integra could not help but scoff at her own analogy. All that lay within the walls of the school were adolescent girls, vicious and unrelenting harpies, but hardly anything that she wasn't capable of handling. Spending one's entire life being conditioned to slay monsters had that effect on a person.

During holiday, she normally went home and took direct control of the organization, while Walter and others she had hired conducted normal missions when she was away. However, a complicated matter had come up, and she'd had to stay at Hellsing HQ for an additional month.

A ship called the Demeter had arrived in England, and, upon inspection, all of the crew had been found dead and drained of blood, the captain left bound to the mast in order to keep it on course. The cargo had gone missing, but the ship's logs had reported that they had been carrying several boxes full of dirt.

For obvious reasons, Hellsing had been on high alert and she'd torn across the country in search of the cargo and the creature that had most likely been smuggled in with it. Unlike common, younger vampires who went around slaughtering all in sight without much thought, this had clearly been a well-orchestrated plan to get whoever this was into the country.

This plot had been more cleanly executed than she ever could've initially imagined. The organization spent a month without even the smallest of leads as to where the boxes could've been taken, or even how they'd been dragged off the ship at all. There were no records of any kind of transportation, not even a dead human drudge used to do the heavy lifting. The monster had covered its tracks seamlessly.

Though it left a foul taste in her mouth, Walter had insisted that while they weren't finding any leads, it was pointless for Integra to be dragged further behind in her classes. He had promised to contact her immediately should anything come up, but Integra could already feel the case slipping out of her fingers and going completely cold.

Integra opened one of two large double doors at the front, mentally preparing herself to assume the role of Integra Hellsing, seventh year student and heiress. She went over her excuse and holiday again in her mind, remembering all of the details her classmates would surely ask about later. She'd stayed with an aunt in London. No, she hadn't met any boys while she was away and hadn't bought anything of note. The weather had been fine, or as good as it ever was in London anyway. She'd had a decent time, but it had been uneventful. She'd read for the most part.

Most wouldn't find the story very interesting, but that was the point. Integra was hoping that they'd hear it once, lose any amount of curiosity, and leave the matter be as they'd always done in the past. It wouldn't do to have them start to pry and attempt to discover what she'd really been up to this past month.

Integra stopped by the front office, which was, as per the usual, occupied by the plump, red-faced Ms. Thrip, the receptionist.

Thrip was, in Integra's mind, what a person would act and look like if they'd spent their entire life watching arts and crafts shows (particularly those focusing on knitting) and home shopping networks without any interaction with the outside world.

Every day, without fail, for the past seven years, Thrip wore some kind of knit turtle-kneck sweater in varying pastel colors, a dark pencil skirt, and a pair of tan stockings with laced heeled pumps, dark brown with tan toes. Her clothing was never stained, nor were the shoes she wore constantly ever scuffed, despite the fact that she had, apparently, never purchased any new apparel in all the time Integra had known her.

The woman leaned forward, her sticky, hair-spray covered blonde pixy cut not even budging as she did so, and tapped all ten of her long, bubblegum pink, fingernails against the hardwood of her desk like claws. She peered all too cheerily at the huntress through her thick-black framed glasses.

"Miss Hellsing!" she greeted, smiling in that broad, almost uncomfortably wide way she'd become renowned for. "I thought you weren't due here until tomorrow!"

"There was a last minute change," Integra replied briefly, withholding a cringe. She'd become used to being referred to as Sir while at home.

Ms. Thrip had grown accustomed to Integra and her 'family's' secretive nature and knew not to question further, as it would ultimately get her nowhere. "Alright then, your room is still the same, but you have a new room-mate coming in, oh, this evening I believe. Imagine that, both you girls arriving on the same day."

"Room-mate? Is she a transfer student?"

"Her family just moved to this country, I believe." Ms. Thrip said, her voice vibrating with excitement, as it always did whenever she spoke of anything she viewed as exotic.

"Is that so?" Integra replied, trying to mask the irritation in her voice. She was a paranoid person by nature, so the idea of sharing a room with someone in general put her off, even more so considering the fact that she didn't know her at all.

Ms. Thrip nodded vigorously. "Isn't it exciting? She's supposed to arrive here at around eight o'clock, so you should have enough time to unpack. Do try to make her feel welcomed here!"

Integra understood the less than subtle hint perfectly; she had better not make the school look bad in front of their new student. "I'll be sure to, good evening ma'am."

Integra dragged her belongings up the white, marble stairs, making loud thuds every time the wheels hit the hard surface. This combined with their rolling against the hard wood floor on the third level put her in a state of unease; she despised the utter silence in the dormitory otherwise. Being the only source of sound made Integra feel as though she were a bumbling giant, leaving nothing but ruins in her awkward wake.

Finally, she reached what had been her dorm for the past two years- Room 223. The platinum haired teenager turned the knob with one hand and shoved the door open with her shoulder.

The room was just as she'd left it at the end of Winter term. Two twin-sized beds about five feet away from each other in placement with a bedside table and lamp in between to separate them, a desk pushed against the far wall, and a tall window right beside it that looked out over the river which ran behind the school.

The badge walls and darkly stained floor were nothing particularly exciting to look at, but she had often found comfort in how relaxed and unobtrusive the colors were.

She set her trunk down on the bed closest to the door (she always felt more comfortable sleeping within easy running distance of the exit), and unpacked her supply of uniforms so that she could hang them in the small closet, leaving her socks, underwear, and other miscellaneous belongings in the case and sliding it under the bed again. Normally it wouldn't bother her to have such items scattered about, but now that she wasn't going to be alone she figured she should show at least a modicum of consideration.

Integra slipped off her shoes, leaving them on the floor between her bed and the wall, and collapsed unceremoniously onto the bed with her socks still on. Had she been in the mood to deal with the slings and arrows of adolescent curiosity, Integra may have gone downstairs to join her classmates for dinner, but she was willing to miss a meal in favor of a reprieve from the imminent onslaught of inane chatter.

The only two people whom Integra actually looked forward to seeing were Miss Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray. Vibrant Lucy and gentle Mina had been some of her only guiding lights throughout the past seven years of school, and Integra could at least be certain that she wouldn't grow bored as long as they were around. They would undoubtedly scold her for missing dinner and not speaking with them earlier, but she wanted to wait until she could find a moment a lone with them instead of having everything they said be torn apart and analyzed by a large group of girls.

Integra removed her glasses and set them down on the nightstand. By the grace of God, she'd only had to share a room with another twice, and knew from experience that some girls would much rather chatter on all night than allow anyone within a mile to sleep. Just in case this immigrant was of that persuasion, she decided it would be best to get in rest while she still could.

Integra jolted awake by two swift raps on the door followed by one scratch against the grain. Even through the haze of her short nap, she instantly recognized the secret knock that Lucy had devised their first year here.

Not bothering to place her shoes back on, Integra quickly snatched her glasses up from the nightstand, going over in her mind quickly the things that she could and could not speak about while at Cartwright's. Usually she was good about keeping Sir Hellsing out of her school life, but the transition between the two could be difficult at times.

Just as her hand was hovering near the door knob, the door was swung open, nearly slamming Integra in the nose.

"My god," The flame headed girl laughed as she proceeded into the room without invitation. "The ride over here must've been hell if you were tired enough to forget to lock the door. I mean, we could've been morally deprived, sex-crazed killers come to rape and murder you!" Lucy flung her arm up over her eyes, making an equally over the top face of terror for dramatic effect. "Lucky you, it was just us."

Lucy Westenra was, easily, one of the most beautiful young women she'd ever met, having just bloomed out of the acne-ridden awkwardness that was adolescence in the last year or so. Her father was the CEO of an international shipping corporation, and, though she often tried to ignore this detail, she was marked to take over upon his retirement.

Still outside in the hallway, a pair of large, brown eyes peered at Integra, still scoping out the situation. "Come off it Luce," Mina murmured, slowly edging her way through the door.

Lucy's face eased back into a relaxed smile and she nudged Integra in the arm. "So, how's it been? Have fun smuggling drugs over the American border over the holiday?"

"Lucy!" Mina hissed, her face going red with embarrassment for them both, but Integra waved her off with one hand, a smile smile playing on her lips.

"No, I want to know what she thinks I've been doing this time." Integra replied, folding her arms across her chest in preparation.

Lucy smiled wickedly, glad to have her less than tactful habit encouraged for once. "Well, I believe that you're secretly in the head of a drug cartel down in Mexico, and if you were to tell us what you did over holiday, you'd have to have us all shot to keep us quiet."

"Why are you telling me this, if you're so certain I'd kill you then?" Integra shot back, single eyebrow cocked in amusement.

"I've got people too!" Lucy said defensively. "If I disappeared, my informants would go straight to the police!"

"You are a silly thing," Integra laughed, seemingly having dismissed the entire matter. "If I did lead a drug cartel, I'd be smart enough to bribe the authorities. They are so easily bought, after all."

"You see I told you!" Lucy said, whirling on Mina, who'd zoned out slightly while they were talking.

"Wha-what now?" Mina stuttered, looking at Lucy frantically in case she'd missed something important.

"That's why Integra couldn't be a spy for the government. She makes a much better bad guy!" Lucy insisted.

"You need to stop watching those 007 movies," Mina mumbled, tucking a lock of her short brown hair behind her ear.

This had been a regular routine of theirs since Integra had taken up the helm as Hellsing director, thus requiring her to miss copious amounts of school at times. She always had a perfectly reasonable cover up, but Lucy didn't like reasonable answers, they just weren't as fun. So, the girl had put it upon herself each time to think of some new, fantastical story as to where Integra had been, usually heavily influenced by recent cinema.

Lucy flopped onto her back, her long red hair flying haphazardly around her face in loose curls. "Don't remind me of more reasons to hate this place. I swear, I was this close to making it back before class started last time I went to the movies." She glared out of the corner of her eye at the two of them, that icy blue iris alight with false anger. "I'd have done it too, if you guys hadn't flaked out on me last minute."

"Your dad may not care if you go walking ten miles to the nearest theater," Mina countered. "But my parents would flay me alive if they knew I was out in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night!"

"So," Integra interrupted. "How did you know I was here?"

"I smelled you!" Lucy declared, grinning deviously. "You're like my brother's socks, very distinctive!"

Mina frowned, blushing deeply once again. "Lucy's roommate spotted you as you came in."

"Why didn't you come to dinner anyway?" Lucy jibed, poking Integra in the ribs.

"I just wanted to get settled," Integra replied with a small shrug. "I ate on the train, anyway."

"That's what old people say when they downsize because they're too rigid and fragile to make it up the stairs in their big old houses anymore." Lucy responded flatly, clearly unimpressed. "I'm just going to assume you had to knock off a girl threatening to snitch on your entire drug operation before you could grace us with your presence."

"You do that," Integra said, albeit a bit uncomfortably. Perhaps it really wasn't the best thing to encourage Lucy's fantasies, lest she start coming up with something accurate.

"It's okay," Lucy chirped, flashing her most charming smile. "I understand. It must be hard work, being an evil overlord and all."

Mina turned to Integra, hugging a textbook to her chest, large brown eyes full of concern. "Really though, why were you out? Did something happen?"

"It was nothing really," Integra lied, a forced smile making its way onto her face. "I was just staying with family in London."

Mina nodded slowly, her eyes trailing toward the floor. Her family was significantly poorer than Integra's or Lucy's, but they were well off, obviously. Her father worked for a pharmaceuticals company as a researcher. She had a mousy face and a petite figure, and she often stood with a small slouch to her shoulders and her head bowed slightly.

"So, are you going to go out after curfew with us?" Lucy prompted. "I was thinking we could go to the beach."

"It's much too cold for that!" Mina shot her down, rubbing her arms as if the thought alone chilled her. "Besides, it's already too late in the day, we'd never get back before dark."

Integra withheld the urge to wince, thinking back to her last visit to that stretch of coastline. The fact that the Demeter had landed only kilometers away from her school was enough to spike her paranoia, though there was no evidence that the vampire had moved this direction.

"I'll have to pass as well," Integra said. "It wouldn't be safe for you to go out there alone, Lucy."

Lucy rolled her eyes, sitting up. "I swear, if you two weren't around to correct me, I'd never be wrong. We still need to do something together, it has been two months since we were all here last."

Integra shook her head. "I have a new room mate coming in tonight. I should be here when she arrives and make sure she doesn't get locked out or anything."

"What?" Lucy said, a wicked grin splitting her face in two. "Fresh meat, huh? We'll have to get her, initiated, then, you do realize."

Integra's face suddenly twisted with mortification, her hand coming up to her brow. "Oh god, we're not ten anymore! You cannot honestly be suggesting—"

Lucy grasped her by shoulders, her face suddenly dead serious. "This is a time honored, Cartwright's tradition, passed down to us by our fore, uh, mothers!"

"I thought you made it up…" Mina muttered, wringing her hands together in front of her.

"Well," Lucy admitted with a shrug. "I may have _embellished_ the ritual here and there, but it's roots go back to the school's founding!"

"You just made everyone else do it back when we were first years because you were embarrassed that Cassandra tricked you into—"

Lucy shoved a hand over Integra's mouth, suddenly silencing her.

"It's tradition, I tell you!" Lucy snapped. "If she doesn't go through with it, the new girl will bring a curse upon us all, or something."

Integra raised an eyebrow, but chose not to comment through Lucy's fingers.

Mina grabbed Lucy by the arm and started dragging her through the still open door, looking apologetically at Integra as she said. "We'll see you tomorrow. It's great to have you back Integra!"

Integra waited up for awhile before deciding to catch some sleep. The room had gone dark when she woke again to a sharp knocking on the door, as the window faced east and did not allow much sunlight in late in the day, so Integra had to fumble around for her glasses for a bit before sliding out of bed. Thankfully, she'd pretty much memorized the layout of the dorm, and was able to find her way to the door in the dark.

Integra opened the door, still half aware of what was going on around her. The hallways were dark as well, curfew having been an hour past.

"Good evening," a girl, perhaps an entire foot shorter than Integra greeted. She was unable to discern her face or clothing in the dark, making the girl look more like an unsolid mass of gathered shadows than a person. "I am the new student. Do I have the correct room?"

Integra remembered vaguely the conversation she'd had earlier with Ms. Thrip and nodded.

"May I, then?" she asked. It didn't occur to her to question why a teenaged girl would be so concerned with manners, especially when dealing with someone her own age.

"Yes, come in." Integra said, standing aside to allow her new room-mate entry.

The girl walked in and seated herself on the foot of the bed nearest to the window, her feet dangling off the edge.

"Don't you have any luggage?" Integra asked, closing the door.

"It's being delivered." She replied, looking out the window.

This was abnormal, but not unheard of. After all, Cartwright's was a private school for the upper class.

"I am Integra Hellsing," she added, suddenly feeling immensely stupid for not bringing it up sooner.

The girl giggled. "Oh, I know."

Integra blinked at her in confusion, becoming more suspicious of this girl as the seconds ticked by.

"That woman, Trip or something, told me." She explained, leaning back on her arms. "I am called Diana."

Integra turned on the lamp on the bedside table, and she was finally able to look at her new room-mate.

Her hair was long, dark, and straight, and it was cut into neat bangs that framed her pale face. Her eyes were dark blue and had a confident, if a bit mocking, gleam, and they were deeply set into a beautifully sculpted and blemish-free face. She was dressed entirely in stark white, with a mink-fur cap perched atop her head.

"Do you have the uniform yet?" Integra asked, sitting back down on the edge of her own bed.

"No, but I will by tomorrow evening at the least," Diana said. "So what do you kids do for fun around here?"

Surprised by Diana's bluntness, Integra took a moment to reply. "That really depends. Does gossip, study, and the occasional fight over a hairdryer interest you?"

Diana huffed in amusement. "Perhaps the last one would be worth a watch, but, otherwise, not particularly. I suppose I'll have to stir up some better trouble to get into."

Integra refrained from rolling her eyes. Another rebellious heiress looking to spite her parents for taking care of and funding her. Lucy was enough of a handful to begin with, but now she had two to worry about. "You and Lucy would be thick as thieves. I'm sure she'll be planning something or other to get us all expelled in the next few days." Integra remembered with dread the 'ritual' Lucy had spoken of before.

"Sounds perfect." She agreed, rolling over onto her stomach.

"You may see her tomorrow, I suppose. You may have classes together. Her name is Lucy Westenra." Integra said.

Diana made a look of clear disgust, looking like she'd rather shoot herself. "I'm skipping classes tomorrow."

"On your first day, after missing a month already this term?" Integra asked, completely incredulous at the thought of shirking duties in such a way.

Diana waved her off with her right hand, supporting her head with the other. "I don't really give a damn about grades."

Already able to tell just how much they weren't going to get along, Integra changed the subject this time. "Will you need me to show you around tomorrow anyway? You'll still need to know where the showers are, even if you don't go to class."

"I suppose so," she conceded, closing her eyes. "You know, skipping class isn't any fun alone."

"You're just going to have to deal with it then, because I'm not going with you." Integra growled. She wanted desperately to study or read something school related in order to have an excuse to end the conversation, but, unfortunately, she'd yet to have received any of the mountain of homework she was soon to have.

Diana sighed dramatically, letting her head flop down on the bedspread. Her whine was, therefore, severely muffled. "You're like an old spinster whose biological clock has gone off! This is horrible!"

"Sorry to disappoint." Integra snapped at the insult, secretly holding the same kind of lukewarm sentiments toward her new room-mate.

Diana crossed her arms and glared at her from over the top of them, suddenly looking predatory. "I bet that you will skip class tomorrow. In fact, I'm sure of it."

"Really now, how much?" Integra, snarled. Walter would have a heart attack if he knew that she had been reduced to gambling before even a full day of classes had passed, but he didn't need to know everything that happened while she was in school.

Even though the lower half of her face was hidden, Integra could practically _sense _Diana's smirk.

"If you don't skip class, then I'll attend a full day. And if you do. . ." Diana trailed off, as if deep in thought. "You'll owe me something later, whenever I have need of you."

"You'll attend for a full week!" Integra corrected, feeling that Diana had far more to gain in the first arrangement.

"Fine then," Diana accepted, so confident in her ability to win that she had no qualms with putting that much of her personal freedom on the line. "To the winner goes the spoils."

* * *

><p>Hours later, Integra was shaken awake, though she could see that the sun was only barely tinging the sky with pink from her window.<p>

"You promised to show me the showers today, remember?" Diana said, her face just a bit too close to Integra's for comfort.

Integra glared, noticing absently that she'd slept in her glasses. "What time is it? Can't you wait until a decent hour?"

"Me? Do something decent? Never!" She snarled playfully, tugging on Integra's arm again. "Besides, you don't want to miss class do you? I didn't know winning would be _this easy_."

Integra scowled, remembering their wager from the night before. "Fine then, just try to stay quiet. We aren't supposed to be out of our rooms yet."

Seeing that she was still wearing her clothes and socks from yesterday as well, Integra simply slipped into the shoes she'd left on the floor. She, from years of practice sneaking out with Lucy, turned the doorknob and pushed it open just slowly enough that it wouldn't scrap against the floor too loudly or cause the hinges to whine.

She crept down the hallway, at first nervous that the boisterous girl would not be able to hide the sound of her feet against the wood as well as she, but Integra was unpleasantly surprised. If anything, Diana was even quieter than Integra, slipping along behind her like a ghost.

More than a little peeved by this girl's apparent perfection, Integra silently opened the door to the bathrooms.

There were five stalls in all and five corresponding sinks with a single long mirror on the wall above them all. It was impeccably clean and had been recently remodeled with granite countertops, because the students would riot in the streets if offered anything less. There were no windows, but there were two tasteful light fixtures that provided decent enough lighting to the entire long room.

Integra bypassed the sinks and the stalls, however, paying them no mind. She went to the back of the room and turned a corner into a small tiled hallway that ended in a heavy wooden door.

"Why put them all the way back here?" Diana mused, following behind her as closely as ever. It made Integra more nervous than she'd like to admit to have this strange girl out of eyeshot, but she dismissed it.

"So that no one could hear what was going inside from the bathroom. I don't see much point in it, seeing as showering can't be any more embarrassing than what else goes on in here, but I digress." Integra answered with a shrug.

Integra opened the door and stepped inside, making sure to keep her hand on it so that it wouldn't swing closed behind her.

The shower room wasn't anything particularly thrilling to look at. It had all the average essentials, showerheads lining the walls, miniature stalls with small shelves in them to set soap and other such things, and a drain in the middle of the floor.

"Well, there you are." Integra said with an unenthused sweep of her free arm. "Can I go back to sleep no—"

Integra was roughly shoved from behind and stumbled forward, and the door, too quickly to have been gravity, swung shut behind her. She flew up, instantly enraged, and pulled with all her might on the door's handle. This was to no avail, for it was mysteriously locked, though Integra knew of no way to lock it without the key.

Seeing that she had been imprisoned, Integra roared with anger and began to hammer mercilessly on the door in a vain effort to try to get someone to come to her aid. The blonde remembered her own words, however, and her assault on the wooden surface came to a stop.

"That God damned snake!" Integra snarled, realizing that she'd had a part in her own entrapment.

Integra hissed in momentary defeat, already stewing over all the different kinds of Hell she would inflict upon Diana the moment she was released from her prison.

* * *

><p>Mina Harker walked robotically forward with the line for dinner, not particularly paying any attention to where she was going as she was preoccupied with the book with her left hand. She absently grabbed something here and there and placed it on her plate, which was haphazardly propped up on her hip, not actually knowing at all what she'd dropped on it.<p>

She set her plate down on a table in the back corner of the room, her usual haunt, never even glancing at the food.

When a large bag was dropped on the table beside her, Mina yelped, nearly falling backward out of her seat.

The red headed girl snickered at her, sitting down across from her.

"You did that on purpose." Mina accused softly, dog earring the page she was on and placing the book down.

Lucy shrugged. "I wouldn't if you didn't make it so easy. I swear, it's like you live in another world." She teased. "Just kind of makes me feel lonely when you go off on Mars, is all."

Mina, finally realizing just how hungry she really was, glanced over at her plate and wrinkled her nose in disgust. Bread pudding was splattered all over a serving of mashed potatoes and peas, looking like a pile of toxic waste.

Lucy wordlessly handed a fork to Mina and gestured to her own mashed potatoes, smiling in understanding.

"I met someone today," Lucy began. "I caught her cutting class during third period—"

"And what were you doing outside of class during third?"

"I had a pass!" she defended. "Anyway, she's just transferred here. She seemed like fun, so I invited her to hang out with us later. I think she's Integra's new roommate."

Mina scoffed a bit in disbelief. "Don't tell me you're still planning on—"

"You know you can't do it during the day!" Lucy exclaimed through a mouthful of ham. "Besides, Integra, as her roommate, will of course have to attend as well."

"So you're still set on this whole 'ritual'…" Mina trailed, wringing her hands together.

"Are you kidding? It's our civic duty to baptize our new classmate. I won't hear anything otherwise!" Lucy declared. "This girl's no pushover, I'm sure she can handle it."

"I really hope so," Mina mumbled, brow furrowed with worry. "We are going to make a horrible first impression, aren't we?"

"Integra's probably already left her mark." Lucy retorted, smiling broadly. "I'm sure there's nothing we could do to make it any worse."

* * *

><p>It was around eight o'clock in the evening. Most of the students had retired to their rooms for the seven o'clock curfew, and the few who had stayed up later certainly weren't unskilled enough to linger in the hallways. The sun was a burning ember at the bottom of the sky, casting red-orange light through the windows and onto the floor and walls, making their earthen tones seems to blaze in its glare. The tired, sluggish quiet of a day near to its death had taken reign, and all within the school seemed warm, comfortable, and lax.<p>

A blonde-haired girl stormed up the stairs, announcing her arrival on the third floor with a slam on the landing. A west-facing window at her back, the sunlight lit up the stray hairs around her head like some kind of hellish mockery of a halo as Integra marched down the hallway eyes burning with a thirst for retribution.

She reached 223 and threw the door open, the knob making a sharp crack as it collided with the wall behind it. Integra looked around the room wildly, both her teeth and fists clenched tightly enough to turn diamonds into dust. However, she soon found, to further her rage, that the dorm room was empty.

What had she expected? A girl who skipped class as often as she claimed wouldn't give a damn about curfew! Integra cursed in a manner that would've gotten her tongue cut out by Walter as a child and ran from the room again.

Integra descended the stairs once more with the speed of a vengeful goddess on the hunt, nearly running over several teachers who attempted to stop her on the way.

Going entirely on instinct, Integra ran out to the tree.

It was a great old thing, with gnarled and twisted limbs that curled up toward the sky like ragged fingers. It's trunk was not tall, but it was incredibly thick, and it's large roots stuck out of the ground beside it, made naked and bare by the rushing stream over which it casted its immense shadow.

This tree was the only one that had managed to survive on the grounds of Cartwright's in the fifty years since it had been built, though it had certainly been there far longer than the school itself. It was a hot spot for young ladies seeking to find somewhere to waste time. Though she doubted a new student would know of it, it was the first place Integra thought to look.

It seemed that luck was on her side that day, because, sitting in the shade like three devils plotting a murder, were Mina, Diana, and Lucy.

Diana was smiling in that sickeningly cocky and mocking way, and Lucy and Mina seemed to be smiling along and just eating up every piece of crap she fed them like it was candy!

Diana caught sight of Integra and stood up, grinning victoriously. She opened her mouth to say something, but was far too late. Integra walked up to the girl and, without warning, punched her in the face with the force of a truck.

Diana stumbled backward into the tree, holding her bleeding and twisted nose. Evidently, she had not been expecting that extreme of a reaction from Integra, as she had no smart-ass remark prepared.

"I was trapped in there until the janitor, on an off chance, decided to do his weekly clean of the showers!" Integra shouted, raising her fist to pummel Diana further. "Classes ended two hours ago! The least you could've done was let me out!"

Diana said nothing, continuing to cover her nose with her hands.

"What the hell's wrong with you? Gone for one month and you come back a complete lunatic!" Lucy gasped, grabbing Integra's fist to prevent her from doing further damage.

"She locked me in the showers at four in the morning and left me there to rot!" Integra defended, pointing her free hand at Diana.

Mina bent down to be on level with Diana, tenderly reaching out to her wounded face. "It doesn't hurt too much does it? I know she can really throw a punch."

Diana shook her head, still not removing her hand from her injured nose.

"I think you still need to see the nurse, knowing her, it's probably broken," Mina chuckled half-heartedly, fatally trying to lighten the oppressive mood.

Unfortunately, at that point they'd already drawn several angry teachers and the headmistress out, what with Integra's rampage and the loud arguing between her and Lucy.

"All of you, in my office!" the headmistress snapped. She had always been infamous for her iron will, rivaled only by that of Integra. She pointed to Diana. "Except for you, to the nurse, immediately. We'll speak later."

"Ma'am," Mina whispered, wincing as the headmistress's steely gaze landed on the brunette. "She's a new student, so she doesn't know where the nurse's office is. If I may, can I—"

"Yes, yes," she interrupted dismissively. "Take her to the nurse and head straight to my office afterward." Mina wasn't known for being particularly rebellious, despite the company she kept. She could be trusted to do as she said she would and return.

The headmistress marched back with Lucy and Integra trailing behind. The red-head shot a particularly dirty look at her blonde companion, but said nothing. For the moment.

While Mina's back was turned, Diana's grip on her nose tightened and she suddenly jerked it to the side, snapping the re-generated cartilage and making it bleed once more.

The brunette turned back around, completely oblivious to the act and said, "Well, you heard the boss lady. Looks like we get a delay on our death sentences. Talking with them will do one of two things for us: tire the old bat out or make her even angrier."

Diana smirked, "I'm willing to take those odds."

Mina laughed, glad to see that even having it literally come around and blow up in her face hadn't dissipated her confidence any.

"Well, come on then." Mina offered Diana a hand, but it was ignored. Diana stood on her own and looked to Mina, waiting for the other girl to lead the way back inside.

Mina shrugged, walking ahead of the other girl.

* * *

><p>Four girls sat in separate chairs in front of the oak wood desk, home to a name plate reading Agatha Crowe, each child having a very different expression on her face.<p>

On the far left, the one with the bandaged nose sat with her head leaning on her hand, staring with a bored, blank expression at the headmistress. To her right, the short-haired brunette sat up with impeccable posture and was nervously wringing her hands together. Beside her, the girl who'd started all of this was sitting stiffly, her face firm and conveying no emotion; her hands, however, were still clenched in her lap in tight fists. On the end, the pretty red-head was quietly hissing between her clenched teeth and her arms were tightly crossed.

Crowe took a deep breath before starting to speak. "So then, who would care to explain what happened?"

"I would!" Lucy said immediately, not giving anyone else a chance to speak.

The head mistress nodded her approval.

Lucy stood from her chair. "Mina and I didn't have anything to do with it ma'am. We were just talking with the new girl outside when Integra showed up and broke her nose!"

"Is this true?" she asked, looking to the other girls.

"Yes," Integra confirmed. "They were only bystanders."

Mina nodded vigorously.

"While this may be true," the headmistress said. "You were out of doors after curfew."

Lucy sat back down again, the look of triumph having melted off like butter. Mina visibly sunk into her seat.

"Anyway," the headmistress continued. She gestured to Diana. "What is the meaning behind this?"

"She locked me in the showers and left me there until the janitor found me." Integra explained flatly.

"You were in there all day?" the headmistress asked, not believing she'd heard right.

Integra nodded.

"While I can't condone the use of violence, I agree that this is a very serious matter." The headmistress cleared her throat. "Miss Westenra and Miss Harker, a week's detention for breaking curfew. Miss Hellsing, you and the new student will serve one month's together, along with clean up duty in the dining hall."

Integra may as well have been told that she'd been sentenced to death. Not only would she be forced to room with the beast of a girl until she could find someone else to take her in, she would also spend all her free hours with her as well!

The poisonous icing on the cake was that Diana didn't seem nearly as upset by the news. Actually, she was grinning evilly from ear to ear, victoriously leering at Integra from her chair. For a moment, Integra was tempted to rip her damn nose clean off, but she'd already been punished enough for her lack of self-control today as it was.

"You three, return to your rooms. I'd like to go over the rules here with our new student for a while longer." The headmistress commanded sternly.

If Diana was at all daunted by this remark, she did not show it. If anything, she seemed to be waiting to see what the old harpy could dish out.

Once out of ear shot of the her office, Lucy growled, "Jesus! You just had to go and blow up!"

"I'm sorry Luce, I didn't mean to get you guys mixed up in all this." Integra confessed, feeling like a kindergartener caught rough housing on the playground.

"It doesn't matter! Now we all have to get you back!" Lucy said decisively, rubbing her hands together.

"Come on Lucy, what Diana did was kind of mean. . ." Mina mumbled.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "That's just like you! Too sweet to even take a side! One minute you're taking one to the nurse and the next you're defending the other for punching her!"

Mina looked to the floor, wringing her hands together. "I just. . ."

"I know, I know!" Lucy said, her tone softening. "I'm sorry. Seriously though, if someone ever punches you in the face, don't ask if she hurt her knuckles!"

Mina mumbled, not sure how to respond, "Okay?"

Lucy dramatically threw her hands up and sighed in defeat. "It's hopeless! She's going to be a fluffy marshmallow for the rest of her life Integra."

"That should even it out between the three of us, then. Imagine if all of us were just as loud mouthed as you are!" Integra teased.

Lucy shot her a faux glare, continuing to smile. "At least we don't have iron sticks up our asses! Diana told us about that bet. Did she _really _have to lock you up in the showers just to get you to skip class?"

"It was my first day back! I'm already a month behind to begin with!" Integra defended earnestly.

Ms. Thrip poked her fake-blonde head out of her office and whispered, "Girls, I'd suggest you get back up stairs, before your situation gets any worse."

Not needing to be told a third time, the girls quickly moved on.

* * *

><p>". . .and furthermore, you committed such a serious breach of conduct <em>on your first day here.<em>"

Diana yawned, having tuned out what the hawk-nosed woman was saying a good ten minutes ago. Her nose had healed and re-healed some time ago, but, to her disgruntlement, the nurse had said (in front of one of the girls no less) that she'd have to keep it bandaged for another two weeks. Having long grown bored of the situation, Diana stood up and approached the desk.

"What on earth are you—"

Diana raised her hand to be on level with the headmistress's eyes. "Everything is fine."

The headmistress's face relaxed entirely, her jaw going slack. "But the..." she drawled in a dazed murmur.

"Everything is fine." Diana repeated, a bit more forcefully, but not too much so.

Crowe was left standing behind her desk, staring off into space and muttering under her breath.

Diana casually strolled back into the hallway, the door swinging softly shut behind her without being touched.

The windows in the west facing front door threw long beams of yellow light across the floor, creating a glare on the reflective surfaces of the trophy cases. In the protective glass, the entirety of the other side of the empty and silent hallway was perfectly mirrored.

Diana stood still, staring expressionlessly at the empty space where her reflection should've been.

A wispy shadow flared up at her feet, growing in size and morphing until it took the shape of a large dog's head, looking up at her with thirteen eyes of varying size.

"It's what's not there, rather than what is, that separates us, isn't it?" Diana asked, smirking in spiteful amusement at the idea.

It blinked at her, looking as though it was trying its hardest to follow, but failing utterly.

Diana chuckled quietly at it, slowly shaking her head as if to clear it. "What was I expecting? You are a dog, after all."

She turned and walked toward the front double doors, phasing through them without a sound.

* * *

><p>Integra did not sleep that night for fear that, should she return once Integra was slumbering, Diana would take revenge for her broken nose. Integra could not help but hope that the break would leave that perfect, smug face permanently deformed.<p>

Hours passed, however, and Diana did not appear. As eleven o'clock drew nearer, Integra felt her rage building once again. It was actually kind of terrifying; ever since her father's death and her becoming head of the organization, Integra had kept firm control over her every thought and feeling. This girl seemed to find a way to make Integra seethe at the drop of a hat.

Not only had Diana stolen all of her freedom for the next month, she was also getting away with skipping curfew! Despite her better judgment, Integra donned her shoes and glasses again and crept out into the hallway.

She blinked in surprise as she saw the large window at the end of the hallway. Beyond it, partially covered by clouds, the moon was full and a dramatic, glowing red.

Integra didn't consider this to be any kind of omen; a red moon wasn't unheard of. It could very easily have been cause by pollution in the air or a lunar eclipse.

Integra, in great contrast to the hellish pace she'd taken before, tip-toed down the stairs, stopping on each floor and craning her ears for a single sound in any of the hallways.

She went through the empty dining hall, exiting out the side door to the yard in the back of the school filled with neatly trimmed shrubs in long rows. It seemed to be the only kind of plant their butch gardener could manage.

Her anger had faded for most part, swept away by the cool of evening.

Beneath the shadow of the tree a few meters away, she could squint and see a few figures gathered around its base, along with a small light.

Her stomach dropped into her feet like dead weight.

It wasn't possible, Lucy surely couldn't be that determined to go through with this, she thought sternly as she marched toward the tree, fists clenched. Knowing Lucy, though, she really shouldn't have expected anything less.

Four girls stood gathered at the base of the tree, a lit candle sitting on the dry grass (a clear fire hazard, she remarked to herself) in the middle of the circle they had formed. Three of them, Integra noted in disbelief, were wearing those same old 'cloaks' made from now dust and dirt covered blankets. In the middle, sitting with legs crossed by the candle, was her lost roommate, looking as smugly amused as ever even with a large, bulking bandage strapped to her nose.

"Lucy!" Integra snapped, recognizing her by the wavy red hair that dangled from the makeshift hood hiding her face. "I told you not to-"

"So great of you to finally join us Hellsing!" Lucy cheered, though her voice remained lowered to avoid drawing notice from inside. It seemed rather pointless, considering the fact that she had a brightly burning candle alerting the entire world to their location. The girl on her right, who Integra realized was far too tall to be Mina, tossed another blanket cloak tucked under her arm at Integra's face, which she instinctively caught.

"Wha- No!" Integra sputtered, looking down at the familiar old patch work. "This is ridiculous! We aren't ten anymore!"

"Come on!" Lucy whined, her hands clasped together. "You've probably got another seventy or more years of being a boring old adult ahead of you, why not take a minute to be ten? It won't hurt you, I promise!"

Integra raised an eyebrow at the girl, and Lucy quickly added. "You still owe me for today, anyway!"

Integra frowned, mulling her options over in her head. She couldn't bring herself to behave so ridiculously as Lucy did on a daily basis and, yet, some small, defiant part of her didn't want to confirm what they had been saying about her for years now, that Integra was secretly an eighty-year old man in disguise.

"Fine then," Integra muttered, tucking the cloak under her arm. "But I'm not wearing this hideous old thing. It smells funny."

Lucy shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Where have you been keeping these things all of these years, anyway?" Integra asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Her mouth was the only part of her face that was visible under the fluffy pink blanket hood, and Integra watched as it spread into a sheepish smile. "If I tell you, then I won't be able to hide your glasses anymore."

Integra gave a look as though she meant to throttle her right then and there (being nearly completely blind and prone to headaches without them, she was particularly protective of her glasses), but Diana cut them off.

"Enough. Get to the event already." Diana said, looking meaningfully at Lucy.

"Okay then," Lucy replied, straightening her back and raising her chin in order to look as official as she could in a fuzzy, pink blanket. "Chancellor Murray, the staff please!"

Mina blushed fuschia at the long forgotten title, ducking her head down so that only the turquoise of her cover could be seen as she shoved a long stick at Lucy, tied with a red ribbon at the top. Integra wondered how she'd bullied Mina into going along with this. She may have been easily susceptible to Lucy's influence, but she did tend to be a very serious and adult girl.

Lucy took the staff in hand like she was the Queen herself, raising it above her head as she said. "Today, we are gathered to-"

"It's not daytime, is it?" The tall girl whispered. Her cloak was the newest out of all of them. Integra wondered what kind of person would go along with something like this having no nostalgia from childhood to serve as an excuse. Her eyes flittered to Diana for a second, and then she decided she'd rather not know at all.

Lucy smacked her on the arm so quickly Integra barely registered it, only figuring what happened from the small yelp the German sounding child gave.

"To allow Diana entry into our coven!" Lucy stated, smiling broadly. She raised both arms expectantly, and, when nothing happened, she cleared her throat loudly and prodded Mina in the shoulder with her already extended arm.

"O-Oh! Uh, Long live Cartwright's and the Sisterhood!" Mina yelped.

Integra blinked in surprise. She couldn't begin to comprehend what kind of nut would remember all of these details seven years later. Then again, she could just be making things up.

Lucy grunted in approval before continuing. "As High Inquisitor of the Cartwright Sisterhood, I shall be overseeing this event!"

Integra couldn't help her snort, and Lucy leveled her eyes at her to glare with as much intensity as she could, heightened by the low light of the candle thrown up into her face. Of course, this only resulted in Integra bursting out into full laughter, to which Lucy simply rolled her eyes before turning around and beckoning them all forward with a hasty, flapping hand.

Diana stood up and moved to stand beside Lucy as she came to the side of the tree and pointing up at the still full moon with her stick. "Under the watchful gaze of our protector, the moon…" Lucy droned on, making up some more official and cult-ish sounding garbage up off the top of her head while the German and Mina drew slightly closer.

Knowing full well what was coming, Integra just did her best not to laugh and give it all away. While she hated to play Lucy's games, she was always a fan of some good natured vengeance.

"...and so finally, after braving the womb, kindergarten, and whatever messed other up crap before here, you have arrived at your destination, the end all be all of your existence, rebirth as a sister. And so, you shall receive a new name."

The tall German girl was close, not too much so to be conspicuous, but within arm's reach. This was just enough.

"But first, we must have…" Lucy trailed off for dramatic effect, drawing Diana's attention as she made what had to be one of her signature ridiculous faces. "Baptism!"

The tall girl roughly shoved Diana in the back, sending her tumbling forward and splashing into the river below.

Normally, the river didn't run very deep, but Lucy, as well as all of the other girls, had forgotten the storm that had occurred only a few nights before, and they had not been able to see how much higher the water had risen in the dark. So, instead of emerging wet and disgruntled in water up to her waist, Diana was swallowed completely by the river.

The three girls waited in awkward, frightened silence for a few moments, staring in disbelief at the dark, nearly invisible surface of the water. Diana did not come back up.

Integra's mind switched gears immediately. She threw off her red uniform jacket and glasses, along with her shoes, and the huntress jumped into the water, not diving in fear of smashing her head against the river bed.

The water was black in the darkness, and her own natural blindness did little to help matters, but she could still barely make out the stark white of Diana's clothes somewhere near the bottom.

Integra reached out, groping around to grab hold of a hand or something, when a small, freezing hand clenched painfully tight around her wrist, pulling Integra down.

She used her free hand, as Integra could not seem to shake the death grip at all, and grabbed hold of the arm. Integra planted her feet on the river bed and pushed up toward the surface, nearly gulping in a mouthful of water in her shock at just how heavy Diana was.

The bank, though normally to high to reach from here, was brought close by the raised water level, and Integra managed to drag them both onto the shore, gasping for air as she emerged.

Mina, Lucy, and the tall girl descended on the immediately, pouring with guilt ridden questions of their well beings.

Integra assured them calmly that yes, a little water had not inflicted some terminal illness on her, and that all was forgiven. However, she paused, noticing not only Diana's dead silence and the fact that she'd yet to have let go of her wrist.

Diana was staring at the ground, covered in mud and dripping with water still, her face still struck with a cold, almost panic-ridden shock.

The first image that came to mind was, oddly, that of a child who'd been lost in some crowded place, having finally found its mother and determined not to let go, for fear of being stranded again in an instant.

Feeling immensely awkward and unsure of what to do in this situation, Integra tentatively reached out and shook her shoulder.

Diana jumped a little, blinking wildly at her for a second or two as if suddenly roused from sleep.

"Are you alright?" Integra asked, this being the first time the question seemed to have sunk into the other girl.

Diana smiled. It was so without any form of spite or mockery that it genuinely startled Integra for a moment, who had decided that Diana was incapable of any level of sincerity whatsoever.

"Yes, thank you." she said. "I'm in your debt, Hellsing."

Integra raised an eyebrow at the rather old fashioned turn of phrase. "That's hardly necessary. I did break your nose, after all."

Diana didn't say anything to this, but Integra could tell she wasn't backing off of this whole 'debt' thing. She stood up, bringing Diana up with her, Integra found with another shocked grunt at the unexpected weight.

"You still haven't let go," Integra sighed irritably as she kneaded her nearly dislocated shoulder.

"Right," Diana mumbled (to Integra's still _endless _incredulity) as she slowly brought her hand back down to her side, relinquishing Integra's now bright red wrist.

**A/N: Thought I was gone, huh? HAHA, You can't kill me! Especially when I've already written over fifty-thousand words of a story. Basically, this one had to go back into the Disney Vault for some serious DIY, just to make it flow and work better, basically. Don't expect too regular of updates, but this isn't gone forever.**

**I'm trying my hand at writing romance, if you couldn't tell. I'm just as bad at it as ever, but can I at least get an A for effort?**

**For future updates, expect a lot of meaningful filler (if that makes any sense at all). What I mean by that are scenes like the last one of this chapter that are less plot heavy and more character focused, anyway. **

**Please, tell me what you thought, and see you whenever I eventually post the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Your soul knows the truth.**


	2. The Funeral

The next morning was uncharacteristically warm for England in the dead of Winter, and the sun was actually shining, for once unobstructed by clouds. As they moved back and forth, trotting about with their bright red jackets hanging on their arms, Mina thought that she could see her fellow classmates visibly brightening all around her. It was contagious, it seemed, as they usually reserved child found a bit of a spring in her step as well.

French class had to be her least favorite, so she'd need as good of an attitude as she could muster to make it through the morning. The language itself didn't bother her, with its soft words that seemed to flow into each other like water. No, it was the instructor who tended to sour her mood.

Miss (she was very clear about that part, having just had a nasty divorce) Stanton was a tall, long-nosed woman with small black eyes and a scowl permanently etched into her face. She was very quick tempered and infamous for her love of giving time consuming work out like candy, and when she spoke French alloud she sounded like a angry German soldier.

She took her usual seat in the back of the classroom, doing as the instructions in chalk on the board in the front said and opening her textbook to page thirty-eight. Most of the class was already there, including the girl, Sarah, who sat beside her. She always smelled strongly of alcohol and the perfume she used to try to cover it up, making it hard to breath on occasion. Sarah was also extremely 'stylish', in that she followed the American trend of having massive, permed, and overly hair-sprayed bleach-blonde hair. To Mina, the mass of curly fuzz on her head had always looked hot, sticky, and horribly uncomfortable, making her wonder just what kind of idiot would even consider such a style.

Sarah herself wasn't that bad of a girl, despite her lack of taste. She was a bit ditsy and brash, but generally easy enough to get along with. She was groaning to the girl on her right about her roommate, for reasons Mina didn't care enough about to really inquire on.

Class started, and Miss Stanton began lecturing in her German general's voice, pacing back and forth at the front of the room as she always did. Mina's mind wondered off, as it always did. She'd never been able to focus in class for the life of her, though most would call her studious. She'd always tended to zone out in class and then catch up in the textbook later that night, finding words on a page altogether easier to follow than an actual person any day.

Last night had been nostalgic, to say the least. She'd thought that old blanket had turned to dust long ago, so it had been surprising to say the least when Lucy had thrust it at her in the middle of the night and dragged her out of her room.

Mina really hadn't wanted to go through with it, but she didn't like saying no to Lucy. She could get, a little scary when things didn't go her way. Mina liked to chalk it all up to her being a pampered princess, and maybe just going along with everything she said didn't help, but she'd really just rather avoid confrontation.

It had been like that too, when they'd gone out in the middle of the night when she was only nine, Integra and Lucy at the ripe and mature age of ten.

She was pulled from her reverie when Stanton's stream of harsh speech suddenly stopped, her long nose turning to examine something outside of the window in the door that the students could not see.

She marched toward the door, her heavy black-heeled pumps clopping ominously against the hardwood. Outside, they could hear muffled shouting, with lower, yet equally snappy response in return. More shouting followed and eventually it came to head as the door opened again, the teacher dragging someone in by the arm.

Mina couldn't help the shock that crept its way onto her face. Was Diana really in her French class?

It seemed so, as Stanton swiftly forced her into a desk at the front of the room, presumably, so that she could keep a close watch on her.

She wasn't able to see Diana's face, as all she was able to make out was the long black hair that went all the way down to the seat of her chair, but she could practically feel the girl's irritation coming off of her in heavy waves. She finally had a uniform, but judging by how it sagged, she'd probably borrowed it.

Stanton began lecturing again, pacing as she normally would, and so, like clockwork, Mina began to drift off, but there was another interruption.

"Your conjugation was off, among other things." Diana said flatly, cutting Stanton off mid-sentence.

"Excuse me?" she snapped, standing in front of Diana's desk and looming over the girl in such a way that would've made any other in the classroom melt from the pressure. If it bothered Diana at all, Mina couldn't tell.

"The way you've said it, the case of the adjective and the object it modifies don't agree, and your pronunciation is abysmal." Diana replied. If Mina wasn't mistaken, the girl had the nerve to be examining her cuticles instead of even looking Stanton in the face as she said this.

"The nerve!" she spat, looking down at Diana contemptuously. "I am a professor of-"

"Didn't realize they were just handing those out to anyone these days." Diana drawled. "I can only hope you cheated your way through school. I'm frightened to see what this generation's going to out like if the standards of education have dropped low enough to give an imbecile like you a degree."

Mina sunk instinctively into her chair, watching as Stanton's face became almost lavender in color. Honestly, she hadn't feared more for the child's life when she'd thought Diana was drowning.

"Fine then," she whispered, her voice like that of a hissing basilisk with a prey caught in its paralyzing stare. "You teach the class. There's a quiz at the end of the period, and if they don't all pass it, I'm going to fail you for the semester."

"Can, she do that?" Sarah muttered to the girl on her right in confusion.

Mina was pretty certain that the answer to that was a resounding no, but, regardless, Diana stood and walked to the front of the class, brushing Stanton off.

"All right then," Diana began, looking them all over, as if sizing up a regiment. "I don't expect you to know very much already, so let's start from the ground up."

Diana had a very odd way of 'teaching'. She glanced at the textbook once, rolled her eyes, and then abandoned it on the front desk for the rest of the period.

The first thing she did was fire off one very long, complex sentence far too quickly for anyone to pick up what she was saying, and then she asked some poor girl in the front row to translate. When she was (understandably) unable to do so, Diana moved on, not evening bothering to correct her on it. She asked the girl beside her, and she was able to at least remember what the verb had meant. In response, Diana returned to the first child, asking her the translation of the verb. She, of course, was able to tell her this time.

Diana worked her way through the sentence with the class, finally being able to put the meaning together like a patchwork quilt from the various small bits of knowledge each girl possessed. Finally, they had a sentence in English, and Diana looked at Mina.

"Translate the sentence back." she commanded.

Mina didn't have the courage to say that she couldn't, so she concentrated, taking a moment or so to remember what it was. She was able to parrot the original sentence back to her.

"Too long." was Diana's only comment, as they moved on.

Glancing at the lesson plan every twenty minutes or so, they were able to work through the entire thing using Diana's socratic style. She seemed determined to have the girls teach themselves unless it was absolutely necessary that she give them an answer (she only did it once, mind you), and Mina couldn't allow herself to become distracted or zone out. Unlike Stanton, she was under constant threat of being interrogated by the small girl at the front of the room, so she paid constant attention out of some strange fear. She had this sickly twist in her gut that told her to pity the girl who was caught goofing off. Even with her voice somewhat muffled by the bandage on her nose, Diana managed to be menacing.

Finally, when there were about ten minutes left of class, Stanton passed out the quizzes, notably a great deal quieter than before. Mina was pleasantly surprised to find that, while there were several words she wasn't sure she knew, translating in general made a great deal more sense than it had up until that point. Even if she wasn't completely certain word for word, she was always able to at least get the gist of what was written, anyway.

Feeling fairly confident, she stood, swinging her bag over her shoulder as the bell rang and turned in the paper, tailing Diana as she marched out the classroom.

"You don't need to worry," Mina said as she sort of half-jogged to keep up. "I really doubt she'll actually be able to fail you anyway."

If Diana was concerned at all, she couldn't see it. "You'd think with the amount they charge here, they'd be able to afford decent teachers." she scoffed, though she seemed more amused than genuinely upset.

"You are from Europe, right? You do kind of have an unfair advantage over her." Mina remarked with a shrug.

Diana laughed, a short and spiteful sound too ugly and cynical to have come from such a tiny girl. "What are you trying to say, that, of however many countries there are in that damn place these days, we all go around speaking the same language? I'm not even French, anyway."

Mina blushed, longing to smack herself in the face. "I, didn't mean it that way."

Diana ignored her apology, turning a corner headed in the opposite direction of Mina's next class.

"Hey!" she shouted a little (the girl moved awfully fast for her height and was already nearly halfway down the hall). "Lucy wanted to ask if you'd meet us later!"

Diana stopped, tilting her head to the side, but not turning to face Mina. "Where?"

"Out behind the Dining Hall after seven," she said, before hastily adding. "We're not going to the tree again."

Diana nodded slowly before continuing forward. "I'll be there, just no more baptisms. I've already had two more than I'd like."

* * *

><p>Since classes normally ended at four, Integra normally wouldn't have had to hurry to reach the Dining Hall before five rolled around, but today her economics class had decided to spend the entire period gadding while she had to make up an in-paper on the economic state of Uganda, which she'd had to stay after to complete. It seemed kind of ridiculous to require this of a girl who'd not been in class for even a week, but she wasn't really in a position to complain.<p>

So, Integra ended up sprinting down the hallway, bursting through the double doors, panting heavily, with her bag still swinging by her hip and her glasses barely hanging by her ears.

"I didn't know you were _that _excited to see me again." Diana, who was sitting cross legged on top of one of the table tops innocently threading her fingers through her hair. Integra said nothing, grabbing her by the arm and dragging Diana with her as she headed toward the back of the room where the kitchens waited.

They emerged a few minutes later, mops in hand and a bucket of soapy water. Setting her things on a nearby table, Integra picked up the mop, dowsed it, and began to quickly work away at the multitude of thick stains coating the floor. For young heiresses, practically the modern world's equivalent of true nobility, they certainly did eat like slobs.

She worked very slowly, missing several parts of the floor in her focus to get rid of the visible marks. Diana, however, seemed perfectly content to speed her way through the job, getting to the spaces Integra left untouched as she quickly moved along. With this strategy, they were able to get the floors thoroughly clean at a pretty efficient rate, though Diana had attempted to trip Integra with her mop more than a couple times.

After that, they were each handed a set of rubber gloves (Integra's the standard yellow, while Diana's were bubblegum pink with elephants wearing hats covering them) and put to work rinsing and drying the ceiling high stack of plates, bowls, and silverware. The kitchens did have a dishwasher, but it had apparently stopped working, conveniently enough, right when the staff had been handed a pair of slaves to do the job for them.

Integra scrubbed the caked on food off of the plates and coated them in the pink, foaming soap that had, at first, smelled nice, but as time went on the strength of it was starting to give her a mild headache. She didn't have it so bad, though. Each time she handed off a new plate or fork to the girl beside her to rinse off and towel dry, Diana gagged slightly as she grasped it between her thumb and forefinger, like one would a rat's tail.

Rubbing the condensation from the lenses of her glasses with the corner of her shirt for the fiftieth time, Integra glanced briefly at Diana, who seemed particularly miserable with all of this moisture and fragrance in the air. Even the bandage had grown dark and soggy looking, and her dark bangs were sticking to her forehead.

Integra looked back down at her hands as Diana glared daggers at her, determined to share her disgust and hatred with anyone close enough to feel its sting.

Needless to say, as a very proud and, secretly, a bit childish girl, Integra was not entirely satisfied by the near-drowning incident (as awful as that sounded). Perhaps it had something to do with how, even though Integra had dragged her out, Diana was still just as snide as ever.

Grabbing the still soap covered sponge, Integra watched out of the corner of her eye as Diana focused on drying the plate in front of her. Finding the exact moment, Integra flicked her wrist, sending a large wad of sickly sweet smelling pink bubbles directly toward Diana's face.

The brunnette quickly dodged the attack, swiftly following up by flinging her wet washcloth toward Integra, hitting her in the nose. Grinding her teeth together, Integra scooped up more of the soap in her hands and lunged toward her, throwing specks of pink all over the kitchen.

Five minutes later, the two girls were promptly kicked out of the kitchen, their clothes and hair dripping and covered with soap suds. They had been informed that their punishment had been amended- they would instead serving a normal detention for the rest of the month and the additional week that would most likely be added on for this incident.

Back in room 223, Integra peeled the soaked uniform off of herself, opting for a pair of pants in place of the red skirt. Having been nearly tackled to the ground by Lucy in the hallway earlier, she was now 'honor bound' as the red-head had put it, to meet her outside the Dining Hall with Diana. Integra wasn't entirely certain she'd be able to handle another consecutive few hours putting up with Diana's obnoxious disposition, but she'd never hear the end of it tomorrow if she stayed in the room.

Wordlessly, Integra shoved another pair of pants and a shirt at Diana. They were, of course, far too long, and Diana ended up having to roll the legs of the pants and shirt arms up extensively, reminding Integra of a child playing dressup.

"I wish I'd brought my rain coat," Integra said, wringing out Diana's borrowed shirt with her hands. "If you walked around in just that I wouldn't have nearly as much laundry to take care of."

Diana just glared at her, the image made far less threatening by her still wet hair and soggy, bandaged nose.

Integra frowned. "You should probably get that re-done." Integra said, tapping the side of her own nose.

Diana turned her intense, hate filled daze on her nose, unintentionally causing herself to go cross eyed. "Disgusting thing…" she muttered, a guttural growl emitting from the depths of her throat.

Integra tried not to laugh, but she apparently failed not to appear amused, because Diana's malice seemed to grow even larger, like a black, toxic gas suffocating everything in the room.

"Stop that," Integra chided, rolling her eyes as she snatched her coat off of the hook on the back of the door and stepped out.

The rancid miasma of pure misery followed closely behind.

Lucy and Mina were waiting for them outside the dining hall without the tall girl from the night before. Integra was secretly a little relieved, having a natural apprehension toward complete strangers, particularly those willing to shove others into a creek without warning. Integra, briefly, if the girl had felt guilty for Diana's near drowning.

"About time you lot showed up!" Lucy laughed, crossing her arms. If she was still torn up about last night, Integra couldn't tell, but she'd never known Lucy to stay upset about something for long. She didn't label it as callousness so much as a difficulty dealing with anything negative. "Now that we have been deemed worthy of the Lady Hellsing's presence, we shall begin our expedition!"

"And what kind of expedition are you planning?" Integra asked, deciding to humor her eccentric friend for a while.

"Just like you Integra, trying to spoil the fun early!" Lucy laughed, playfully shoving the girl who would, in any other time or place and with any other person, break her wrist for such an action. "Wait and find out like everyone else!"

Lucy led the group around the side of the building, sticking close to the brick wall so that they could not be seen from the windows above.

Cartwright's had several courtyards, and only one of which could be accessed from the outside. It was the smallest, oldest, and least well kept. This namely because, save for a side door through the laundry room which had rusted at the handle from lack of use,it could not be seen or entered from inside the building. The small entryway was blocked off from the outside world by a tall, wrought-iron fence and a thick chain and padlock around the gate.

From outside, the girls could see the overgrown, yellowing grass within and the dead ivy climbing up the walls, but little else. Integra could spot bits of abandoned gardening tools and broken glass sticking up out of the grass here and there.

Lucy began whispering again, "The other day, I heard the janitor, Mr. Chambers, talking to a plumber in the front hall about needing to go fix some of the pipes and such in the basement. However, the plumber says that a heap boxes and old furniture or something has fallenl down and blocked his path."

The red-head grabbed the pad-lock, and began to enter a combination she'd written down on the inside of her hand. "So, Mr. Chambers tells the plumber the combination to this old thing and that he can get to another entrance to the basement through a door in this courtyard."

"Lucy," Mina murmured as the girl swung the gate open triumphantly. "This part of the school is kind of old, we could get hurt. You did say that some furniture fell over, what's to stop it from falling right on top of us?"

"Live a little darling!" Lucy giggled, grabbing Mina by the wrist and dragging her forward.

Though Mina dragged her feet the entire way, Diana was more than happy to join Lucy at the front of the group, hands clasped together behind her back, face unreadable. Integra, feeling somewhat unsure of the place as well, cautiously trailed behind them.

The basement door was there, just as Mr. Chambers had said. The slanted, doubled doors had once been painted, but they were too chipped and aged for one to discern what the original color had been. Now they were only a half-rotten mixture of dark gray, black, and brown.

There was another lock on this one as well, but it required a key. Lucy mulled over this for a while, looking particularly disappointed.

Mina stepped forward to look at the lock and offer assistance, if she could, but her foot landed on something lying on the ground, causing it to make a loud snap. She looked down to see what it had been and let out a piercing scream.

"You idiot! Someone probably heard you!" Lucy cursed, marching over to see what had frightened Mina this time.

Beside her right foot, laid the now half-crumbled skull of some kind of animal. It was partially buried, the dirt on top of it most likely having been taken away with the wind.

"What the hell is that?" Lucy gasped with a small shudder, her previous bravado gone.

Diana approached the remains and knelt down beside them, brushing the last of the dirt away and lifting it up to eye level. She turned it over in her hands a couple times before letting it drop unceremoniously onto the dirt, her face immediately disinterested once more. "Just a dog. Someone probably buried it here assuming no one would disturb it."

Mina looked immensely guilty for having desecrated the remains of a dead dog, but Diana didn't seem to care at all as she walked up to the doors of the basement. She glanced around the yard, spotting a piece of pipe sticking up out of the ground.

She released it from the earth and dragged it behind her to the door, swinging it over her head and bringing it down hard on the wooden surface. The rotten wood broke easily, most likely barely holding itself together to begin with, and the stairs down to the basement were revealed in the light of the early morning.

Integra blinked in surprise at the show of such strength of the girl, her instincts telling her to be on guard. Despite how ancient the door was, it was hard to believe that anyone that small would be able to just smash it in like that.

The action was enough to jolt Lucy out of her state of temporary shock, and she joined Diana at the top of the stairs.

"Problem solved!" Diana announced, tossing the pipe aside and beginning to descend in the depths of the school.

"Come on!" Lucy called out, still attempting to remain quiet in her regained state of excitement. She quickly followed Diana's lead, disappearing into the earth. Mina nodded hesitantly, muttering a quick apology to the dead animal before joining the other two.

Integra waited the longest, considering whether or not she wanted to be trapped in an enclosed, dark spade with Diana, knowing what she did of the supernatural. It wouldn't be fair to outright label the girl as a monster just because she seemed a bit too strong and, frankly, got on the huntress's nerves, but she knew better than to dismiss a hunch in a matter as serious as this.

Then again, Integra would rather follow in the case that Diana was a vampire than leave her two untrained and unsuspecting friends to be eaten.

Steeling herself for the worst and taking comfort in the weight of the metal object tucked away in her coat, Integra walked down the stairs.

Droplets of rain began to fall, washing more dirt off of the dog's bones and deepening the little trails of erosion that had already begun to form on them.

The only light inside of the basement was streaming in from the door outside, and from it, all the girls could make out were various pieces of landscaping equipment, rotten or torn up chairs with questionable stains on their upholstery, and some forgotten confiscated items.

"It really kind of stinks in here," Lucy commented as she picked up an envelope sitting on top of a cardboard box and opened it, revealing several handwritten letters. After glancing at their contents, she raised an eyebrow and shoved them into her coat's pocket for later examination. "Some raunchy stuff down here, I like it."

"Oh, Lucy!" Mina scolded, a deep red blush rising to her face.

Integra frowned, running her hand along the brick walls looking for a light switch of some kind. Instead, she found the large knocked over pile of garbage that Mr. Chambers had spoken of before, and she saw exactly why the plumber had been so deterred by it. The pile reached all the way to the ceiling.

Integra, with her trained eye, noticed something off about it, however. The chairs and tables and boxes did not appear to have merely fallen over, but were strategically stacked, as if to create a barricade of some kind.

Integra turned to the other girls, "I really think that we should leave soon. Something's not. . ."

The blonde trailed off, her eyes landing on Diana. The girl, usually eager to impress her easily impressed friends, had grown completely silent. She had an intense, overly focused and too-old look on her face, and she was standing in the middle on the room with her arms at her side, staring at something beyond the circle of light cast by the door.

"Huh? Something's wet over here, but I can't see!" Lucy called out from of to the right, having ventured over there in her search for more explicate, confiscated items.

"Wait a second, I think I found a light!" Mina answered, reaching up to pull the metal chain next to a hanging, naked light bulb.

The light came on, filling the entire room. Like a childhood dream, when the imaginative thrill was gone, and the truth laid bare for all to see, the basement was truly uglier and more disgusting than the children could've imagined.

A man, possibly in his late thirties, was hanging with his boots just barely touching the floor. He was strung up by the neck with his own belt, which had been looped around a now bent and leaking pipe on the wall, covering his face and body with murky water.

His eyes were wide open and seem to bulge out of his head, slightly glazed over. The man's jaw was dislocated on one side, leaving his ripped tongue and missing teeth open to the air. His chin, neck, torso, and all extremities were covered in dried blood.

Lucy was the one screech in horror this time, stumbling backward and landing on her backside. She covered her face with her hands, unintentionally covering it with half-congealed blood from where she'd touched the wall near him. Her wide eyes still stared at the man through gaps in her fingers, unable to pull them away.

Unlike her, Mina was completely silent, having frozen in the spot like a deer in a hunter's crosshairs, her hand still lingering on the light's chain.

Integra ground her teeth together, clenching her fists as pure rage seared through her again.

Diana looked from face to face, her expression unreadable.

"Come on!" Integra demanded, roughly grabbing Lucy by her shoulders and forcing her to her feet. "We have to get out of here!"

Mina did not move, despite Integra's command. She growled in aggravation and grasped the girl by the forearm, dragging her to the stairs.

For a few moments after the girls had left, Diana remained, staring at the dead body in a thoughtful manner. She turned away finally and ascended the stairs, but not without a final glance over the room.

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, so this was infinitesimally small in comparison to the opener, but what can you do? Please tell me what you thought, hope you enjoyed it (if not, I especially want to hear from you and find out why!).**

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Of course.


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